Decisions
by crazytomboy78
Summary: When Gene forces Tony into finding the fifth through tenth rings, Tony feels as if he's made the wrong choice. Can he balance all the stress of a decision between finding his father and keeping his friends?
1. Tough Choice

**Heeeeeeey peopleeee. Sooo, new story ideas are awesomeeee. Let's see where this one goes, shall we?**

"Wh...what did I do wrong? Why did he have to hate me? Why did he have to turn on me?" Pepper asked to Tony as they sat in the lab. Pepper looked down to her feet. She felt regret for her decisions.

"Am I stupid? Ugly? Unpleasant? Why did he have to turn on us?" Pepper asked to herself out loud. She hoped Tony was listening, and by the looks of him putting down his wrench and turning to her it was safe to assume that he was indeed listening. He walked over to her.

"Pepper, don't say that about yourself. You are smart, you're pleasant, and you are most definitely NOT ugly. You're the smartest, most pleasant, most beautiful girl I've ever met, and Gene was stupid to betray you. No, he was a complete and total idiot to betray you." Tony comforted. He blushed once he realized what he'd said. He didn't know what came over him, but hearing his friend upset brought out a new side of him. He beamed at the sight of Pepper's smile and let her nudge his arm lightly as she leaned back slightly in her seat in joy.

"Thank you, Tony, you're always there for me." Pepper said with a smile as she hugged Tony. As she hugged him, Tony wondered what the soft feeling inside him was that seemed to go away when he lost touch with her, as it was an unfamiliar feeling to him; but ignoring it, he waved it off and went back to his work. As soon as he bent down over his work again, he saw a far too familiar flash of light and metallic, heavy footsteps. Tony looked up from his work to see the commotion; the disturbance was a heavily unpleasant one.

"Tony Stark. I have…an assignment, for you."

**Flashbackk.**

_The dark-haired Mongol boy took slow steps to a large chair with two spheres behind it; the inner one rotating. He looked down to the floor as he took each step and studied how his feet moved his body. He stopped in front of the so called throne of the secret organization he'd been at the head of for so long now that he didn't know what life had been like as a mere onlooker; he looked at the chair. He remembered how he'd spent days meaninglessly twirling his rings around on the ancient string that had once belonged to his mother._

_He dropped a ring onto the chair and watched it hit the hard surface. As the holographic image of earth appeared once more, revealing the locations of the fifth through tenth rings, he picked his cell phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through his contacts; most were 'friends' he had made from high school. He recalled the person who had encouraged him to enroll in the school in the first place. The kid he'd thought was an innocent friend but had turned out to be the guy he'd been battling his whole time as the Mandarin._

"_What a coincidence," he crossed his arms behind his back, "that's where I'm enrolling." he turned away from his seat and pounded the wall-accompanied by a grunt- nearby in anger. He clenched his fists tight. He'd had friends once, people who trusted him. Now he had nothing and no one by his side. The Tong had deserted him after witnessing the boy's betrayal. He had no step-father and he had no family whatsoever; not that he considered Zhang family anyways. Gene scrolled to the bottom of his contact list; he couldn't call Pepper, she had blocked him. As did Stark and Rhodes. One thing he saw that did not discourage him was the one person that had not blocked him; Whitney. She seemed to be fond of him, even being the only one who was; even if she didn't know it yet. Gene scrolled back to Tony's contact._

"_Stark," he growled, "you will help me. Whether you like it or not."_

**Flashback end.**

"Gene. What are you doing here?" Tony could not even bare to look at him without thinking of how his once-friend had wronged him. He saw his father, hurt and scared, in the Gene's eyes. He could not bear to look without squinting the tears back into his eyes. Gene crossed his arms and walked around in a small circle.

"So this," The Mandarin observed his surroundings, "is your lab?" Tony did not bother to answer. He wanted so badly to look back at Pepper and see what her current state was, but held back; it was time to concentrate on Gene and whatever it is he wanted. Gene removed his helmet and held it in between his arm and his chest as he walked around more. Tony could notice a smirk upon Gene's face that seemed to say 'I have a dirty little secret'.

"You'll be pleased to know that you will be completing an…interesting task for me." Tony stood from his seat.

"You can't make me do anything." Tony asked in an assertive, angered tone.

"I'm sure my new friends at A.I.M. will change your mind." Gene immediately stopped Tony. Tony stepped back, perplexed look on his face.

"How are you involved with A.I.M.?" Tony demanded. Gene smirked.

"You'll find out if you say 'no' once more." Gene folded his arms behind his black armored back and paced in front of Tony and Pepper. Tony stepped back to let the boy explain his story before quizzing him further.

"I am not going to waste my time cutting around the main point. There are ten rings, not five; ten. And you," The young Mongol stopped his pacing and stared the young inventor in the face.

"And you are going to help me find them."

Tony took in the words he was just told and reflected on them. They sank slowly into his mind as he grasped the concept of ten rings upon the boy's fingers instead of five. Tony stood and walked over to the dark-haired boy in curiosity. He thought of their past, and the fun they had shared. Tony had come to Gene at first for assistance with understanding his 'dead' father further than he'd thought to, and he'd ended up fighting him.

"If I do this…will you let my father go?" Tony insisted. Pepper immediately stood and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Tony, what are you doing?" She asked. Tony, ignoring her, stared Gene in the eyes.

"Your father is useless to me. You can have him. But, if this is the way you insist on doing it then that will be your prize." There was another flash of light, and with it Gene was gone. Tony turned back to Pepper in silence.

"Tony, have you gone bonkers? If he gets all ten rings, no one will be able to stop him! We'll all be done for! What were you thinking?" Pepper asked questions rapid-fire.

"I was thinking we could just get through to him somehow." Tony explained. Pepper could not believe what she was hearing.

"Tony, with all that we've been through with him, this is how you're figuring it will work? Words don't get through to him anymore!" Pepper spoke in anger, hoping her words would make sense to him. It didn't look like they were.

"Maybe we can get lucky." Tony bent over his work once more. Pepper felt full-on furious at what she was hearing.

"_**Luck**_? You're willing to bet on _luck_?" Pepper yelled.

"Well, maybe you can get through to him too." Pepper was appalled at Tony's sudden behavior.

"Tony!" Pepper crossed her arms. She was furious.

"Is that how you see me? I'm just the friend you can throw around? Do you really think I'd want to put myself through that heartache again, Tony?" Pepper didn't want to believe it was Tony she was talking to.

"Pepper, that's not what I meant, come on…" Tony realized what he'd said and felt the huge burden of a mistake he had just made. Obviously it was too late for sorries.

"No, Tony, it's like I don't know you anymore. You've become an entirely different person than I came to know you as." Pepper sounded sorrowed by this point. Tony felt deep remorse.

"Pepper, please…" Tony begged.

"No, Tony, it's too late. Just…just stay away. If you're going to bet on your friends to get what you want then I don't want to be a part of it." Pepper walked out.

**Well, sorry I know that was short. But it's an idea I'm going to build on and I feel it's definitely going places from here. I gots big plans for this story :D revieeewwwwww. **


	2. Stress

**Heeey XD Awhh, with all my 'Her Story' hype, I forgot about this story for a bit D: but now I gotz time to update!**

Tony rested his head in is hands as he rested his elbows on the ledge; stress was getting the best of him. As he studied the computer screen more, he felt more and more compelled to shirk this task and relax for once. It was a rare occasion, of course, but nonetheless it was not ignorable. He minimized his current window and walked away from the computer with a large sigh. Pulling out his phone, he scrolled through his contacts and found Pepper's name. He tried texting first, since he knew she'd be mad.

_Please forgive me?_ He removed his shirt and plugged in his charger as to waste a few minutes. No response. He sighed and tried calling her. He heard it ring once, then a pause. Twice, then it stopped. He sighed. He knew what that meant. She was really mad at him. He exited the lab and started on his way to sneak her house in hopes that she would at least talk to him. Before he could reach the door, there was a large flash of light in front of him and then his path was blocked. Tony stepped back to see the Mandarin.

Tony grimaced at the large obstruction as he removed each ring from his finger and slid it onto the string that he dawned on his neck. Tony crossed his arms and he observed the motion.

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked in an unwelcome tone. Gene laughed lightly but maliciously before he spoke his explanation. Tony felt nervous at Gene walking a bit closer to him, but managed to hide his nervous expression so Gene would not notice.

"Don't you remember, Stark? I'd expect you have a good memory. You know what I'm here for." Gene said with a smile still painted on his face. Tony tried not to show Gene that he was secretly a bit scared of him now, and tried not to make it evident how much it hurt to look at Gene anymore. He tried to ignore the pain that was brought to his heart (emotionally, of course) when he saw the smug look on Gene's face. He tried to hide it all; luckily for him, he knew just the way to do that.

"What do you want me to do? I don't have a map to the sixth ring. I don't have any clues. I don't know anything more about the rings. That's all you." Tony was proud of how completely serious he sounded, but he kept the thought to himself.

"Look, Stark, we can get this done the easier way or we can make it difficult by disagreeing all the time. Which would you prefer?" Gene folded his arms. They were silent as Tony contemplated Gene's statement. As true as it was, it was going to be hard to say with words that he agreed.

"Fine. I'll cooperate. But don't expect it to last too long because the minute you're done with me, I'm done with you." Gene laughed a bit at this.

"Fine, have it your way. Because once I'm done with you I'll be too busy getting anything I want with my unlimited power. You'll be finished, period." Tony showed an expression of anger now. There was no end to his ruthlessness, Tony thought. The room was silent only for a slight moment now.

~…~

"Tony, are you crazy?" Rhodey could just barely refrain from yelling.

"What?" Tony asked defensively as they walked into Tony's room and shut the door.

"You're going to _help him_? That's the worst mistake you could possibly make!" This time Rhodey pretty much was yelling. His expression was evidence that he was getting mad at the young inventor that he called his best friend.

"What choice do I have? This is the only way I'll get my dad back." Tony tried to be quieter than Rhodey was, but it was failing as he wanted to yell back, but was trying to be calm.

"Tony, there's got to be another way. There's always another way. You just don't care to think of one." Rhodey was quieter with his tone as he heard the front door open and close, meaning his mother was home from work and he did not want her to hear him yelling; which would make her come upstairs and ask what all the commotion is about, and he didn't want to have to scrape up some sort of stupid lie that wasn't true in any way, shape or form. That and he didn't want to have to lie to his mother about Tony's actions any more than he was already.

"Well there's not this time, okay?" Tony, sitting on the edge of his bed, laid back as an effort to try and relax; yet with the way Rhodey was yelling it was quite impossible to be relaxed.

"Tony, you're only thinking of yourself. You're just assuming that Pepper and I would want to help you deal with Gene. Do you really think that we want to put ourselves through that again? Are you really getting that selfish, Tony?" Rhodey exclaimed. Tony sighed. This conversation was going south. When he'd said he was working with Gene to find the last five rings, he said it in hopes that somehow Rhodey would at least understand his motives.

"It's not like I want to! It's the last thing I want. But if I tell him no he can just get his Mandarin power out, destroy my armor, kill my friends and then kill me. And I just can't risk that, okay? I'm not being selfish!" Tony tried to make it sound as innocent as he could, but it was not working. There was no way Rhodey would see or hear a trace of innocence by now. He was feeling alone and he was getting the sense that he was going to have to deal with this by himself.

"Tony, you're not listening to me! I'm trying to tell you that this is a mistake but you're not hearing me. And if you're not going to listen to your friends, then I'm not going to help you. You're on your own." Rhodey walked out of Tony's room. Tony ran his hands through his hair and sighed with heavy stress piling on top of him. With the silence in the room, Tony heard footsteps on the stairs and a light knock on his bedroom door. He didn't respond, so after a moment Roberta carefully walked into the room, as if trying not to shatter something delicate; perhaps Tony's hardened shell of emotion.

"Tony, is everything okay?" She asked quietly. Tony was silent for a moment as he contemplated his response. He didn't bother to sit up straight and look at her, but instead remained gazing at his ceiling.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Rhodey's just mad at me because he thinks I'm associating with someone we had a bad experience with." Tony picked his words carefully, as not to reveal anything about his past experiences. Roberta remained in the doorway to Tony's bedroom, leaning on the doorknob.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Tony sat up on his bed, but faced away from her and towards his computer desk and looked to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It'll be okay." Roberta nodded, knowing Tony would not look up to see it and gently closed the door behind her on her way back downstairs to prepare dinner; which she didn't expect him to eat. She knew he was feeling down about something, just not what it was that was depressing.

Tony scrolled through the contacts on his phone and saw all the names of the people he felt he had let down in some way or another. He felt alone in the world as he had post-accident. He had friends once, but now he didn't; all because he would do anything to get his father back. It was disgraceful; then the thought of what would happen when he did get his dad back; he wouldn't need school anymore, so he wouldn't need friends. Everything could just go back to normal, the way they were before the plane crash.

Tony decided to get up and take a walk. He closed his bedroom door behind him, put on his coat (he had noticed it was a windy fall day outside), stuffed his hands in the pockets, and began his walk through town. He walked past Stark International and noticed the train track that led past the building and remembered his first adventure as Iron Man. He remembered how he'd stopped the train from destroying the building, but sent it into the middle of the city. He remembered how he'd shown bravery and strength when he showed his iron mask to the citizens of the city. He remembered how he'd shown everyone that he was their protector and their savior; now he was nothing.

Tony walked to the edge of the city, towards Jersey. He found the site where the temple was that they'd explored months back. He walked past the giant hole in the ground; far past it. As he grew further away from it, so did his memories fade. He forgot that day and everything it had wrought. It was too heavy on his mind as he was trying to relax.

As he walked further into the desert-like area, pieces of some sort of metal were shown protruding from the sandy ground. As he stepped further into what looked like wreckage, the shards of metal started to look more and more like plane parts. He clutched his hands into fists in his coat pockets as he shut his eyes tight. He saw a discarded wing to the plane, and different large pieces that read 'Stark International', each piece only holding a few letters and scattered all around the area. Tony stood in the middle of the wreckage and turned to see the metal casing that he had stored his armor in.

Tony saw everything as he remembered it from that fateful day. No one had bothered to pick anything up or fix anything. No one cared to even come by the spot. He had been on his own from that day on, and it would be that way the rest of his life because he wanted to save his father from the harmful grasp of Gene, the person he had once trusted with his father's secrets, information and his own secret. He had trusted Gene with the secret that he thought he was slowly starting to like his redheaded friend more and more each day. It hurt him to know that he trusted people too easily, and it only made it worse that he knew it's true. He knew that it was all true. He trusted people too easily, and there was probably, if not some, at least one person who wasn't going to be too kind to him in the future because he didn't care to see a negative side of anyone and that could result in someone else he trusted with at least some secrets to betray him in some way like he was.

Tony decided to leave, as being at the crash site made him too depressed and that wasn't helping him de-stress. He wasn't under the impression that he could fully and completely relax and de-stress, but at least a little would be nice. Tony walked back into town, slowly pacing himself and thinking about different things as he passed different places. Different memories came as different building passed his view. It hurt him to be in this city, as he felt he made too many mistakes that caused just a pinch more misery to pile up slowly. But leaving was out of the question. There were things that he needed to get done here.

_It also helps that there's that one person that I just can't leave behind…_

**Chapter twooo. Took me long enough…(only due to the fact that I went outside and made a snowman in the middle of the chapter XD) but it's done. Poor Tony is so saaad D: review!**


	3. Allies

**Update tiiiimmeeee XD pff, I'm having an idea tornado. It's a full-out storm up there, right?**

"Pepper, come on. Please forgive me? I didn't mean what I said. I was overworked and the stress got the best of me." Tony pleaded. Pepper sighed and opened her bedroom door; arms crossed an unforgiving look on her face.

"Tony, I'm not mad at you because of what you said. I'm mad because you toyed with my emotions like they were nothing to you. You just don't get it, do you Tony?" Pepper didn't want to believe that this new personality was engulfing the person that she had come to love, but it was more and more evident the more he let Gene get to him and it was all too obvious. It was like a large, luminous light was surrounding him and each time he worked on finding the rings and worked with gene, its lamination increased dramatically.

"Come on, Pepper, I didn't mean to. I was stressed; I didn't know what I was saying. I don't want to fight with you again." Tony pleaded. His efforts weren't working as he wanted them to.

"Tony, when I first met you I thought you were this honest, sincere, deep guy who wouldn't let anyone get in his way or his friends' way. But the more I got to know you…" Pepper paused and sighed. She didn't want to say what she was going to say, but it was something she had to say. Eventually it would get through to him. (Hopefully…) Some things took a little more time to sink in with Tony.

"The more I wanted to believe I wasn't lying to myself." The silence between them was unbearably despairing. Tony was shocked at Pepper's statement, and it made him think a bit. Little did he know just how much thinking he would really do on the thought. Tony gave her a look of confusion. It hurt both of them, but the only difference was that Pepper knew it hurt her and Tony fought every alien feeling that came to him and denied its existence until it was so obvious that he himself could not even deny it anymore. That, Pepper thought, was precisely why Tony made it so hard to find a girl. He was impossible to get. And that's part of the reason Pepper drove herself away at the same time as having the contradicting thought that she loved him deeply.

"Pepper…" Tony begged once more, sounding as if he were on the verge of giving up. Pepper placed her hand on the door in an effort to close it.

"Keep that in your mind when you're helping Gene find those rings, Tony." Pepper shut her bedroom door and Tony stood outside of it for a moment. He sighed as he continued on his way home. He was loosing his friends fast, and it wasn't what he wanted when he accepted Gene's offer. In his vision, everything was peaches and cream with just a few little obstacles then one large one at the end—that being getting Gene not to dominate the world once he got the sixth through tenth rings—and then everything would be just like it used to be. Tony would have his father and his company back, he'd be an inventor that competed with his father to create the better invention that kept his friends close but his enemies closer. Apparently he hadn't seen what it would really be like.

Tony walked down the stairs and out the front door of Pepper's apartment, awkwardly walking past Pepper's father on his way out. Virgil putting the newspaper down to watch Tony walk out, Tony sighing and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Virgil stood and opened the door for Tony courteously, but to Tony it was just another voice telling him to leave. Tony could tell that Mr. Potts knew that there was something not too good going on between his daughter and her friend. Tony silently thanked Virgil as he found his way out of the apartment building and back to the armory. He'd bury himself in his work to hide his remorse. Rhodey was finding every way possible to avoid him, and Pepper was not accepting his efforts of forgiveness. Tony surrounded himself in red and yellow armor as he investigated further damage to the suit and find the best method of repair.

Once Tony was deep inside his pool of work, he tuned out the sound of the armory door sliding open and the sound of footsteps walking closer to him. Tony, partially giving his attention to his new guest, could tell that the footsteps being taken were ones being taken quite carefully as if the person walking towards him didn't know what feeling to show towards the young inventor. Tony didn't bother to look up at the disturbance, instead waited for the person to state their business with him and be done with it. He wasn't in the mood for company.

"Look, man. I'm not going to waltz in here to say I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier, because I'm not. It's not like I want to yell at you, Tony, I just don't want you to make the wrong decision. You're my friend, and practically my brother. I just want the best for you." Rhodey explained calmly. He hoped that Tony would at least part with his work for the moment to look him in the face to say what he had to say to Rhodey's statement. By the looks of it, he got his wish.

"Rhodey, this is the only way. I really hoped you guys would understand, but I don't get why you're not. This is the only way I can get my dad back." Tony said, trying to be as calm about it as he could. Keeping from yelling at each other more was growing more difficult as each spoke more.

"Tony, there is another way. I tried and tried to make you see it our way, but you're just not. And I'm trying really hard to switch your take on this, but in all honest, Tony, it's getting really hard to not give up. I'm tired of fighting you, Tony." Rhodey sighed. That being said didn't help Tony's remorse towards the situation. Nothing that happened lately was helping with anything.

"Come on, you guys are giving up too easily. I can't do this alone, Rhodey." Tony hoped his words would at least pierce through the shell that was forming over his friends' brains and remain in their heads for them to think about, but it seemed that they wanted him to do all the thinking lately. He didn't see what he needed so much thought about, either.

"Tony, Gene hit you hardest and you're still going to work with him. You know, I'd say it's a real shock to see who you've become but now I see it was only evident that it was going to happen sometime." There was silence between the two boys as they stood still for a moment before Rhodey went to leave.

~…~

As the Mandarin disappeared in a large sphere of glowing light, he opened his eyes to see yellow walls and men in beekeeper-like uniforms. He frowned under his black armored helmet and walked casually over to the leader. His serious business-like attitude shone with every step he took. The workers at A.I.M. turned in fear as the Mandarin grew closer and closer to the person he wanted to speak to (that they knew as their boss and their leader,) and stopped feet from the head beekeeper-guy, staying silent for a moment before speaking his demands.

"I am not interested in learning the methods of your patience, I am interested in your weaponry. Why is my weapon not done yet?" The Mandarin demanded. In a scared tone, one of the workers replied,

"Mr. Mandarin sir, the weapon you are requesting is impossible to build in just an instant. It takes time and precision to create these to the correct degree that you requested. Patience is required." the worker explained. The Mandarin grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground in a threatening way. Anger filled him as he heard more of the pathetic response that they were filling his ears with.

"I did not request you take a long time with this. I requested that you make it for me and hand them over to me. If I do not get what I want by next week, I will take back my money and your lives will follow behind it. You choose." Mandarin released the worker and turned so his back was facing the workers. The head beekeeper-guy stepped forward casually, giving off the vibe that the Mandarin did not threaten him.

"Mandarin, you requested powerful drones that were programmed to destroy and you did not request post-haste." he defended. Quite a mistake to make when speaking to such a person as the Mandarin; apparently he did not know that.

"Well now I do. Get it done and be quick about it or I mean it when I say I will be taking more than my money back." The Mandarin flashed out and returned to his underground headquarters and removed each ring, carefully sliding them onto the white string that he dawned on his neck. He walked into the gallery of prison cells and found the one with a particular genius inside. Gene paced before he spoke.

"You pray for sunlight, do you not?" The prisoner nodded.

"Tell me, Stark…how do you get your pesky son to do what he is told?" Gene demanded. The prisoner was silent in thought.

"My son would do nothing for you." the prisoner said calmly.

"Apparently you do not know your own son, then." the prisoner doubted his captor's words.

"I know my son; it's you who can't identify yourself. Who are you? His friend or his enemy?" Gene scowled.

"I know who I am and you do not know your son. You are not to question my authority and you are to obey my commands. Now, you will tell me how to get Tony Stark to help me and be quick about it or you will not live at all." Gene demanded. Howard was silent. He knew better than to defy the teen further if he wanted to live; he'd come to know who the young Mongol boy for who he didn't know he was; he'd learned how to make Gene think about the things he needed to pay his mind to.

"Just answer me this, sir," Howard asked before Gene could walk away. Gene turned to the jail cell.

"I will see my son again, won't I?" Howard asked.

"Maybe." Gene walked away.

**Well, that one was pretty good idn't it? yeahhh, let's review that one.**


	4. Stress Leads to Depressed

**hayhayy :D I know, it's been like so incredibly long, it's been like two weeks since I updated. I'm kind of slacking on IMAA with my burst of story ideas for other archives. I sarry!**

**Song: **_**Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri**__ (no, it's not really a songfic. Just using the song for the beginning.)_

_I know I can't take one more step towards you  
'Cause all that's waiting is regret  
Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore  
You lost the love I loved the most  
I learned to live, half alive  
And now you want me one more time  
Who do you think you are?  
Runnin' 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
So don't come back for me_

Pepper listened to the lyrics fill her room and her head. They sunk into heart, and they weren't necessarily describing one boy at the moment. She sat on her bed, her knees pulled tightly to her chest and hugged them in an effort to keep whatever happy, secure feelings she had left inside her. She'd been crushed by one boy, then stomped into tiny pieces by another. And the other didn't even know what he was doing that was wrong. _How could I have been so stupid? How could I have been so blind? He seemed so innocent at first, and when I fall for his charms he crushes me each time. _Pepper scolded herself. She felt stupid and useless, and she wanted desperately for someone to tell her that she wasn't stupid, she wasn't useless. But there was no one left to tell her so.

She heard a light knock on her door and let out a quiet groan as an answer as she laid out flat on her bed. The lyrics were squeezing the tears out of her eyes, and she didn't want to show anyone that she was crying. What had she to cry over? Every person that wasn't the same gender as her ended up breaking her heart in some way or another. Pepper watched her father enter her room out of the corner of her eye and ignored him as he sat on the edge of her bed. He patted her knee in an effort to comfort her, but it wasn't working as he wished.

"What's wrong, honey?" He asked quietly. Frida sighed and covered her face in her hands. Any words shattered the fragile shell that was hiding her from the cruel fate of humanity that had shattered her as far as she's gotten.

"Oh, dad, I always fall for the wrong guys! I was wrong to want to know Tony, I should have known he would just turn himself into some stupid jerky businessman who doesn't consider other people's feelings when he does anything he does." Frida complained. Virgil partly didn't want to know how Tony had upset his daughter like this, but he knew it would make her feel better if she talked to someone about it. He wanted to set this young man straight for hurting her daughter, but he wanted to know what he was setting him straight about before he said anything.

"What did he do?" Virgil asked.

"Dad, it was awful. One moment he was himself, the next thing I know he's a complete stranger. It's like he didn't care for my emotions at all anymore." Pepper cried. Virgil was angry inside. For a boy to disrespect the emotions of a girl in such a manner was awful, and for what reason he had to do so was beyond him. He allowed Pepper to tell him more just so she could get it all out of her system and get all the tears out. And if she needed to be alone so she could cry, so be it. He didn't know much about these things, he usually allowed her to console her mother for feminine issues. It wasn't the dad's job to be the god of advice anyways. Pepper said that she just wanted to be alone for a while, so Virgil left to continue reading his newspaper downstairs. As Virgil left, Pepper turned up the volume on her stereo.

_I hear you're asking all around  
If I am anywhere to be found  
But I have grown too strong  
To ever fall back in your arms  
I've learned to live, half alive  
And now you want me one more time  
It took so long just to feel alright  
Remember how to put back the light in my eyes  
I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed  
'Cause you broke all your promises  
And now you're back  
You don't get to get me back  
Who do you think you are?  
Who do you think you are?  
Who do you think you are?_

Pepper listened to the words of the dear Christina Perri and thought of how they made sense for her life right now. Sometimes music was her only comfort; when it was something that she didn't want to bring to her mother or her father, or her friends, she brought the problem to her stereo, plugged in her iPod and turned up the volume so loud that no one would hear her make a sound. No matter if that sound was loud, miserable tears or loud, despair-anger-filled screams. Music aided the soul, no matter who you are. At least, in her opinion it was true. She barely heard her phone vibrate over the music, and picked it up to see that Tony was still begging her forgiveness. Pepper threw her phone to ground in anger.

"Why do I let myself forgive you?" Pepper screamed into her lap, "I'm only going to come back to you when I'm over it and I'll just get crushed again." Pepper spoke quieter instead of straining her voice and hurting her throat. Not that she cared if she went to school the next day and she couldn't talk, that would just help her to not talk to anyone anyways. It would restrain her from talking to Tony because she knew that no matter how much she hated him right now her heart would make her talk to him like everything was all better and that's the last thing she wanted. His words would crush her and he wouldn't be happy back, he would just wonder why she's not mad anymore and then she'd remember everything she'd forgotten when she looked into his eyes and forgot that there was a whole world around them. It was like some sort of disease; the lovesick disease. A rare condition where no matter how mad or broken hearted you got, you'd still look into their eyes and forget everything you ever knew except for the fact that you love that person and you don't care who knows it.

The worst part is, it felt like you could die from it. Only, not on the outside, just on the inside. Your heart eventually got so broken that you died inside, and suffered secretly the rest of your life due to that.

Frida buried her head in her pillow and screamed louder.

~…~

Tony had given up on his hopes of Pepper answering him. She sounded miserably angry when he'd shown up at her house judging by the fact that she'd told him to leave. He regretted what he'd said to her and he missed her voice already. He missed her perky smile and he missed her upbeat attitude. She was like his morning coffee; she did a good job of keeping him up in the morning. He hadn't seen the happy sparkle dance in her eyes since before the Temple of Sacrifice. He missed the way she teased him and made him get out of his lab and relax for once in his life. For a briefer summary, he missed her and he regretted what he'd said.

Not even Rhodey was talking to him. Tony managed to blow off the two most important people in his life by trying to get his dad back. It seemed like one task had managed to screw up his entire life. He could get past losing access to his father's company completely and having his life changed with every little detail, but he tries to get his dad back and he messes it all up. Messed up everything he's done that has worked out so far with one move. And the saddest of all was the fact that the only person that would bother talking to him now is the person he hated for every reason that existed on the earth. Him and Roberta. But she only talked to him because she was in charge of him and she had no choice but to talk to him. It disappointed him.

Tony ignored Gene flashing into the armory behind him. He didn't care for his constant popping in and out anymore; he learned to be beyond it. His friends were never going to talk to him again, and he'd be back to being a workaholic-friendless genius who was friendly to the people in his dad's company and he would go back to burying himself in inventions to ignore his problems. Gene walked over to him, noticing that Tony was ignoring his presence. This was new to him. His presence as the Mandarin was being ignored, and no one ignored the presence of a giant metal guy standing in the room. Gene removed his rings in hopes that Tony would notice him then. Still no.

"Either ignorance is bliss or you are asking for a load of trouble, Stark." Tony glanced over to Gene for a mere minute and then turned back to looking at the giant computer screen.

"What do you want?" Tony responded. Gene held back from hurting the boy, because he could tell that Tony felt hurt for whatever reason. Maybe it was the flash of guilt from pretending to be his friend for so long then betraying him in an instant that held him back from harming the boy; maybe he felt like he was still a friend to Tony. Gene looked around at the lab.

"I want you to help me retrieve the sixth ring, Stark. And if you were smart—which everyone says you are—you would not say no." Gene explained. Tony turned from the large computer screen, leaning against the somewhat of a dashboard and stared at Gene.

"Oh, what, I say no and you just whip out your stupid rings and tell me that it only takes you the power of one to kill me? I do one thing for you and my friends are turned against me. You think I'm happy right now anyways?" Tony said. Gene was surprised at the accusation. Gene saw now that maybe violence wasn't the way to persuade Tony Stark to do something for you…

"Look, Tony, I'm not going to apologize for your friends being mad at you. I am going to calmly tell you to help me with this ring and leave it at that." Gene answered.

"Would it break through your skull to know that Pepper's heart is broken because of you?" Tony's words silenced the Mongolian boy. It seemed that betraying a friend didn't faze him, but breaking a girl's heart got to him. How backwards their lives were. Tony's arms had been crossed since he'd turned to face Gene.

"You know how much I just wish my life was normal? If I had a normal life I could have gone to school since I was three and I could grow up with my friends without this kind of problem. I could be normal. I could avoid all this, this pain." Tony said. Gene was silent.

"You're digging yourself deeper than you need to go. Just help me get this ring and solve your problems on your own time." Tony gave in. He'd help Gene for now, but he knew that words like he'd spoken would eventually get to him. Words always had a tendency to sink in, like water in a sponge. Only words weren't squeezed out as easily.

**End of this chapter! Me likes how that turned out. It was pretty cool. Do you think so too? Review!**


	5. Life is Full of Surprises

Tony and Gene walked into the old temple with silence. Tony didn't have anything to say to Gene, and Gene did not want to say anything to Tony. Since it was an old temple, there was no lighting except that that was being let in by the entrance. Inside the temple there were different statues seeming to be paired in two, poised as if guarding something. Tony knew they weren't guarding anything because there were several of them lined against the walls, and other things surrounding them that signified a sense of unity. Tony grunted. It was really not helping him not pay attention to Gene when they were in a temple surrounded by unity. He started looking for the ring in an effort to take his mind off of the unfortunate fact that his partner was highly hated by his friends.

Gene took his own path as well. He knew this temple was the Temple of Unity, sometimes known as the Temple of Liberality. He'd heard a few things about the last five rings, but not much. He was lucky he had been able to acquire the little amount of information he had right now. But Gene could not help but think of what Tony had told him earlier. Almost everything he said about pain was about what he had done to Stark, and he felt remorseful. Yet, he would not admit that. Because of his selfish desire to live up to his mother's promises, he had managed to hurt the people who had helped him. They had trusted him with their secret, and he had let them down. He decided to disregard the thought when he found that the step he had taken next had opened a new chamber.

~…~

Rhodey, expecting Tony to be in his lab working himself to death, was surprised when he came in the armory to see it empty. Although normally it was a happy sight to see that Tony wasn't working, he was worried about Tony's whereabouts. Even if he was mad at Tony, his mother hadn't seen Tony in the house for days and wanted to know where he'd been. Rhodey knew this was not good, no matter what Tony had put his friends through over the last few days. He knew Tony only made himself work hard as he did to avoid confrontation. Tony wasn't much for those kinds of things, and everyone who knew him knew that. It was like a fact of life: Tony stark is not good at confronting people about fixing a problem.

Rhodey looked around further into the armory, calling Tony's name eventually to see if he would respond and come out of wherever he was stashing himself. Yet the fact that he was getting no answer worried him. Tony may have wronged him, but he still felt extreme worry for his missing housemate. He hadn't said anything to anyone this morning about going anywhere. It was unlike him to not say anything before venturing off into the world. He always liked to have people know where he was, even if it was just to brag about himself a little. But that was just how Tony acted as himself. Rhodey always saw that Tony was raised with that little sprinkle of arrogance (only due to the fact that he was rich and all rich people acted that way at least a little).

Worried that Tony was not turning up, Rhodey called Pepper. He almost didn't recognize her without the high zeal deeply engraved into her voice. He almost thought he had the wrong number. After Pepper answering angrily that she didn't care where Tony goes because she didn't want to talk to him ever again. Rhodey assumed that meant Pepper was in a new stage of what he liked to call 'being dumped'. And he only called it that because he didn't know how else to describe Tony disregarding her feelings and due to high levels of stress telling her that she could help him get rid of Gene. At least, that was the best way he could say it. Basically, she'd gone from sadness to anger.

Rhodey tried Whitney next. Calling Whitney was also his plus side, because he liked to think that maybe she would flirt with him. He asked if she'd seen Tony, but she said no and expressed her worry shortly. Rhodey thanked her anyways and thought of the next person who would possibly know where Tony was. He tried Happy, but he didn't know either. Rhodey thought about whom else would know where Tony had gone. He knew that Tony was associating with Gene, but where would Tony go that involved Gene knowing his location? Before Rhodey had a chance to think more, his phone went off. Roberta wanted to know where he was with Tony.

Rhodey answering he'd be up soon, an obvious lie. He knew he only had one person left to call, so he did. He felt lucky that Gene even picked up the call. Grumpily, Gene answered that indeed Tony was with him and they were looking for the sixth ring, and Rhodey could tell Gene added that information just to make Rhodey madder at Tony. Sadly, it was working. How could Tony just go off with Gene like that? How could he just go silently like that, and not say anything to anyone? It made sense that he wouldn't tell Pepper, but what was going through his head? Rhodey stormed out of the armory and went back home to explain to his mother that Tony was mysteriously missing and he couldn't find him anywhere. He knew his mother would not be happy about this.

~…~

Gene sat comfortably on the throne of the Mandarin, eying the ring in his hand. He examined it, twirling it around in his fingers and getting a feel for it as he let it slip onto his finger. He carefully removed the white string from his neck and slipped the other five rings onto his other hand. Soon bulky black armor surrounded him. He stayed in his seat a moment to think about the power he now wielded with six rings and when he was going to bother Stark for the seventh ring. After a long sit, Gene stood slowly from his so called throne and took his good old time walking to the prisoner cells to wring out more information about the rings from his prisoners. He'd learned that if one man will not tell you what you need to know, get more captives that are too weak in self-esteem to tell you what you want to know.

"What's up, Temugin? Or should I say Temu?" Gene turned. Behind him was a middle-aged man with slick black hair and a proud smirk on his face. Gene glared at the mysterious man as he'd never seen him before in his life. For some reason he rung a familiar bell in his mind. But for the life of him, Gene could not remember where he'd seen this man before. Gene removed his rings, thus removing his bulky armor. The man was leaning against the wall nearby and seemed all too proud of himself. A virtue Gene showed much of as well. Gene crossed his arms and walked closer to the man, observing him in silence before speaking.

"Who are you?" asked Gene. The man didn't bother to move from his comforted position against the wall. He didn't know the teen kept a place of such order. He felt a fatherly sense of pride well in him, a sense he had not been able to feel in all his life. Wanting to know what this position was like was what drove him to visit the boy in the first place, he was not about to make himself unappealing to the boy by teasing because he could tell Gene held a bit of a temper. He remembered the boy from when he was a mere baby, but that was the last he'd saw of Gene. Gene scrunched his eyes into slits at the man as he smiled smoothly before responding.

"You can just call me daddy,"

~…~

Now that Tony had nothing more to do with his day, he paced his armory thinking of how in the world he would get Pepper to talk to him again. He knew talking to her wouldn't do anything more, but he didn't know what else he could do. He really wanted her to just be his friend again, but she wouldn't answer any of his texts or calls for the past week. He felt like he was on Pepper-withdrawal, he felt miserable because he hadn't heard her voice in over a week. He was beginning to regret what he'd said to her in the first place even more than he had before, and he still couldn't identify that one pesky feeling in his gut that arose whenever he thought of the issue of his female friend; and he thought of her often. Her smile was like a piece from history to him, it'd been so long since he'd seen it. It was like her smile was the chances of seeing a speck of green in the Antarctic.

What did romantic guys do to get a girl to talk to them? Get them stuff? But what could he get her that would make her talk to him? Tony's thought process on girls wasn't exactly filled with genius methods, granted that Tony had grown up with a father, no sisters, no mother and a big load of inventions. No one expected him to know anything about how to impress a girl at all. Not that he ever needed the information anyways, since his looks were enough for a girl anyways. Of course, on a normal day for Tony Stark (before his father's plane crashed) did not consist of flirting with fan girls anyways. **(A/N: no offence! I call myself an epic fangirl.) **

Tony jumped from his seat and exited the lab, suddenly struck with an idea. He remembered once asking Rhodey what he did to impress girls so much (when Whitney was everywhere he went) and Rhodey had told him that there was a large difference between impressing a girl because you look pretty and impressing a girl because you have a good personality and are highly romantic. Then went on some big rant about what to do when impressing a girl—and oddly enough for Tony, kept using how to get with Pepper by doing one of the things he suggested. Tony disregarded whenever Rhodey said that, but used the advice Rhodey had given him to his advantage and made sure to keep a mental list of things he'd said in case the first thing didn't work: getting her flowers. (of course, a note along with them saying how sorry he was.)

Tony's only regret was not having thought of such a thing earlier.

**Heh, updates are fun. Sorry if that chapter was short, I had a short idea for this chapter and had to expand on it a bit to make it a decent sized chapter. So review?**


	6. Anger Is A Madman's Medicine

"Pepper, honey, something came for you in the mail..." Pepper heard her father call up from the stairs. Since she had been so bluntly disappointed by Tony, she hadn't really talked to anyone or done anything. Just sat in her room, regretting ever getting to know him at all and hating herself for making such a stupid decision as following her heart.

Pepper opened her bedroom door and headed down the stairs to see her father holding a vase of flowers, looking at them curiously. She grabbed them and studied them, carrying them to the kitchen counter. She plucked a card from the flower tops and opened the envelope. Inside, it read:

_Dear Pepper,_

_I don't know how else to get you to forgive me, but this is the best thing I can think of. I don't know what I'd do if you never forgive me except live the rest of my life in regret for whatever it is that had upset you. So please, I miss your voice…_

_I don't get very sentimental very often, but this time feels different. I'm reaching out like I haven't really before. I'm getting lost without you._

_With care,_

_Tony._

Pepper could tell that Tony had more to say than could fit on the small card, but she didn't care. She dropped it down onto the counter, not caring that her father had watched her read the card and see a tear come to her eye. Sighing, Pepper headed for her room.

"Why didn't you forgive him?" Virgil asked. Pepper stopped, but didn't turn to her father.

"Typical Tony," her voice was shaky, "he will just never get it."

~…~

"Daddy?" Gene repeated. The man nodded. Gene crossed his arms.

"I'm not sorry to inform you I don't have, nor do I want, a 'daddy'. So thank you, but no thank you." The man was not easily avoided. He stayed still.

"Well, I heard what happened to your mother, and I thought—"

"That after _thirteen years_ you'd console me?" Gene interrupted. It seemed that that was the man's weak spot.

"I didn't think you'd have left the country," he said, a very weak excuse. Gene shook his head at his father.

"If you really cared enough to find me, you wouldn't have given up there. So why don't you go find a bar to crawl back into?" The man—named Chaoxiang—showed a look that said he took offense to the remark. Gene frowned. "Huh," Gene grunted, "my mother told me once that you were never good at defending yourself." Chaoxiang felt that he had taken enough verbal abuse from his long-lost son, but did not want to give up on winning him back after he had left so many years ago. "Come on, son, didn't ya miss your old dad?" He tried, weakly. This comment made Gene angry, and he grabbed his father's shirt by the collar in anger. "Do not ever call me that, ever. I am not your son, you are not my dad and I don't care for your presence. So leave, before I bring the Mandarin into this." Hurt and offended by his son's threat, Chaoxiang escaped his son's grip and took a few steps back. Before leaving, he muttered, "I'm sorry." Before exiting completely, Chaoxiang stopped but did not turn to face Gene. He said: "if its those rings that's driving your anger, then don't worry, I'll just see to it that I get the last four before you do. Cuz guess how mommy got her ring?" He paused, "From me." he exited. Gene sat in his chair angrily. The nerve of the man, thinking he was welcome here, Gene thought. He could not sit for long. His anger was driving him. He stood, placed rings on six of his ten fingers. Soon he wasn't seen at his underground throne, but instead in the armory of a certain teenage inventor. ~…~ Tony turned from his work on the large computer screen to see the Mandarin looming behind him. Tony sighed. Now was not the best time for him, because even after sending flowers, and effort he had never approached for anything before, she was still not answering any of his calls or texts. It was beginning to stress him out. "What is it now?" Tony asked nonchalantly. Gene, not having visited the boy genius for a 'friendly chat'—although that had never been an objective of his visits—and he had other, more violent intentions. Gene took off his Mandarin armor. He punched Tony with his bare hands. Tony landed on the lab table, resulting in the armor that lay atop it to slide off the table and fall to the ground. Tony remained where he lay, in pain. "What was that for?" Tony asked, irritated. Gene hit him again. This time, Tony felt blood trickle from his forehead. The fury that had led Gene to such violence had boiled rapidly inside him as he talked more with his father. His anger caused him not to think before he acted, because he kept hitting Tony before Tony could get back up to defend himself. Each time Tony reached for his armor enraged Gene, which caused him to hit Tony more. With each strike, Tony saw the room spin more and felt more pain in his head and his stomach-the two spots where Gene hit him most. There were a few blows to a shoulder or back that caused bruising, but that wasn't the fullest extent of the pain that Tony felt spreading through his body. Several blows later, Gene took a step back, breathing heavily in rage. He examined what he had done and noted that Tony was on the lab floor, just laying there still. Gene knew that the boy genius was still breathing, but he didn't care and he walked out. From his bedroom window, Rhodey spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. His bedroom did have quite the view of the factory, and seeing Gene walking angrily out of it raised a question or two. He looked closer out his window at Gene and thought he saw a faint spot of blood on his knuckles. That wasn't good, even if he was mad at Tony and he knew Tony hadn't left his lab for days. Rhodey decided to further inspect the situation. He wound his way through the factory and found the lab door. He felt panicked as he punched in the four-digit code to open the lab door, and after a moment, walked in the lab. His suspicion had been confirmed. On the lab floor laid Tony, blood drying on his forehead. Okay, I have officially satisfied my FF withdrawal. I missed writing. Looks like Tony's in a bit of trouble, eh? Will Gene's father pose a problem to his quest for all ten rings? Will that problem pose a problem for Tony's life? Find out in the next chapter, whenever I decide to write that up and post it! Review! 


	7. Trying to Recover

****First I just want to say, sorry for how last chapter turned out. That'd be the second time that's happened to me. It wasn't supposed to be that huge paragraph; it was supposed to be like a normal chapter. So sorry again.**

Rhodey may have been mad at Tony, but this sort of suppressed his anger with concern. When he had checked to see if Tony was breathing, he was relieved to find that he was, but the way the doctor explained Tony's condition it didn't seem like it'd be that way for long. Rhodey's impatience overwhelmed him as he waited longer for his mother to arrive.

The doctor had explained that the blows that Tony had taken to his head could cause brain damage, memory loss, and if he continued to bleed, death. He could tell the doctor didn't want to have to say such a thing, but it was a possibility and with medical, if it was possible there was a large chance that it could happen. Rhodey had a hard time explaining this to his mother when she had arrived.

Roberta had entered the hospital with worry and panic spread across her eyes. It was evident to all who passed her. She had found her way to Rhodey quickly, and had dreaded each word he had used to explain to her, especially the most dreadful word of all: death. She didn't want Tony to fall to the same fate as his father had earlier in the year. Rhodey hadn't even thought to call Pepper and tell her until his thoughts had drifted in the silence of the waiting room.

~…~

What had happened that made me suddenly care for Tony? The way I remember it, one moment I was busy hating him and not caring what the heck he did and the next I was too busy worrying with tears coming to my eyes to hang up my phone. It's my fault, I kept thinking, because I wasn't there with him. But then I thought, no. It's not my fault because he brought this upon himself and he was just getting the consequences. He was asking for it, that's what happened. But, then I felt remorse and then I felt the tears again.

My father probably heard my mood swings, because I heard a knock on my door and its only us in the apartment so I knew it was him. I muttered that he could come in, and he softly opened the door. I guess he was trying to be sensitive around me or something. Dad hasn't always been the best at raising a girl when he doesn't really know how, but he's done just fine so far so whatever.

"Alright, honey, what's up?" He asked quietly, sitting beside me on my bed. I sat up, still hugging my pillow.

"Well something happened to Tony, but he totally deserved it because he's a big jerk! But I'm also kind of worried about him, and he's just such a JERK!" I exclaimed. My dad looked at me with a confused expression, and I knew that I was being bipolar again.

"How about you tell me what happened?" I sighed and began to explain.

"Well, it started when he turned into a total jerk that one day—you know, about what happened after we uhh…confronted G-George…-" I quickly fudged my words, "but then Rhodey called me and said Tony had been hospitalized and it appeared that someone had beat him up and he had blood everywhere. I just don't know whether to be worried or not care because he's a jerk!" I explained.

"Well, honey, don't you care at least a little?" I was silent with thought for a moment, then I meekly nodded.

"So then why are you still mad?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

~…~

Rhodey nervously followed the doctor to Tony's hotel room. He'd called him in just a minute ago, and if he had any judgment at all right now he'd have thought that the doctor had called him with neither joy or despair, but instead a mutual emotion that didn't really say he was sorry to say this or he was glad to say this; in other words, he was either not caring or had a seriously amazing poker face.

"We've concluded that after having stayed the night, Mr. Stark is doing well enough to go home. He may have a very acute case of amnesia, but all that means is some things will not come to him as they used to; but not to worry, it's only temporary. It should last just a week, at the most." The doctor opened the door, and Rhodey walked in behind him to see that Tony was just gathering his things with a smile. Rhodey sighed with relief. It seemed Tony was his old self again, more or less a little happier than he had been for a while.

Tony approached Rhodey with a bright, hopeful smile on his face. If Rhodey hadn't known better, he'd have thought that he was wearing the same smile that he'd had many times before his father's plane crashed; that same arrogant, smug, happy, got-a-good-life smile that he was always wearing. But, he disregarded it and walked Tony out of the hospital.

"So, Tony how do you feel?" Rhodey asked.

"Great, actually. I don't remember what happened, but I'm sure I'll forget all about it once I'm back at Stark International," Tony said. Rhodey stopped in his tracks.

"Umm, what?" He asked.

"You know, Stark International the company my dad built that I almost live at?" Tony explained. Then Rhodey realized what was going on.

"Dude, umm, I don't know how to say this, but whoever knocked you in the head must have wiped a good portion of your memory. Your dad, well he's...that plane crashed, Tony." Tony's face fell.

"What? N-no, that's not possible, our planes are top-notch. They never fail." Tony looked proud.

"Not on its own, Tony, it was sabotaged." Rhodey hated breaking this to his friend, and part of his mind reminded him that he was still mad at Tony, but he disregarded the thought when he saw Tony's face fall more.

As they walked down the sidewalk, they ran into Pepper. Pepper, thankful she'd found them, sighed with relief.

"Oh, there you guys are! Tony, what the heck happened to you?" Tony looked at her with a confused expression.

"Umm, not to be rude but…who are you?" Tony asked. Rhodey almost took a step back. Pepper looked furious, yet tears were also coming to her eyes.

"No one that concerns you!" Pepper brushed past them angrily and trudged off on her own. Rhodey knew he should go talk to her, but had to send Tony somewhere so he wouldn't be able to hear. Pepper was being awful moody lately, and he figured that it was about time to ask her what was wrong.

"Uhh, Tony I have to go, umm…do something, somewhere, so I'll meet you back at my house ok?" Rhodey patted Tony's shoulder and went off in the direction of Pepper. Tony didn't move out of confusion for a moment, but then shrugged and made his way to Rhodey's house. (he had no idea why Rhodey said to go there when he could just as well go back to Stark International and do some work, but he disregarded it anyways).

Rhodey eventually found Pepper outside the armory, sitting on the ground leaning against the factory walls. She looked stressed, so Rhodey sat beside her without a word.

"So what's wrong?" He asked.

"You sound just like my dad." Pepper huffed, which made Rhodey smirk.

"I know you're mad at Tony, but what was that?" Rhodey asked. Pepper sighed and rested her head on the wall behind her, endlessly looking into the sky.

"I don't know. I sat around my room for like, two days just thinking about him and I…I just don't know. One minute I'm sad because I can't believe he'd do such a thing for me, the next I miss him desperately but the next thing I know I'm throwing a pillow at my wall out of anger. I just don't know…" Pepper explained. Rhodey smiled to himself, but hid the fact that he knew why she had such mood swings, but for now he would keep his cool.

"Look, Pepper, what Tony 'did', per say, was just Tony being stressed. You remember what happened when he listened to his dad's will, right? Same thing here. Truth of the matter is, you're his friend and he cares about you." Rhodey explained. It brought a smile to Pepper's face, but it quickly faded the more she thought.

"But still, what he's doing…working with Gene, giving him a free pass to ruling the world with his stupid jewelry, I-I just don't know if I can stare him in the face right now. And why the heck did he ask who I was?" Pepper spat angrily.

"Well Tony's got just _a little _memory loss. He thinks his dad's plane never crashed," Rhodey explained. Pepper sighed once more.

"I still…I feel like there's something that's still bugging me. I know he was just stressed and whatever, but why do I still drown in his eyes?" Pepper said. Rhodey smiled.

"You like him, right?" Rhodey asked. Pepper stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"What? Noo...no, that's ridiculous…" Pepper said.

"No, you do. Don't lie, Pepper I can see it in your face. I've seen you drool over him." Pepper was silent for a moment.

"Oh, you mean the same way you drool over Whitney?" Pepper teased with a smile. Rhodey nudged her with a smile.

"See? You're just fine. Conclusion? You like him."

"And yet, it's not that easy…"

**So, opinions? I thought it was good. Review?**


	8. What To Do, What To Do

Rhodey desperately wanted Tony to regain his memory, because he was sure he had tried reminding him of everything that had happened about a million times.

"Come on, Tony, that's everything that happened to us that you've forgotten—and you don't remember any of it happening? Not even a single bell rung?" Rhodey whined. Tony shook his head sadly. Rhodey groaned. Tony not remembering anything was enough, and the fact that Pepper was probably even madder at Tony right now didn't help. She wouldn't even pick up his calls. Not that it bothered Tony, because he didn't remember her at the moment, but it would bother him if he had his memory back.

"I'm _not _going to explain it again." Tony shrugged.

"I'm sorry, it just doesn't sound familiar." Tony said nonchalantly. Rhodey showed Tony the pieces that remained of the stealth armor in hopes that it would make him remember at least up to that memory.

"Does this look familiar at all?" Rhodey asked. Tony shook his head once more. Rhodey sighed. It was frustrating him.

"Well I'm going to do some homework." Rhodey left the lab.

Soon after his departure, there was a bright flash of light and when Tony opened his eyes there was a boy about his age standing there.

"Umm, do I know you?" Tony asked. This irritated the dark-haired boy.

"Quit fooling, Stark. We are going to find the next ring."

"Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about." Tony said, slightly annoyed that this mysterious boy was insisting on doing whatever it was that he said they'd do.

"You are asking for a large amount of trouble, Stark. Quit. Messing. Around."

"Really, who are you and how did you get here?" Suddenly, the boy grabbed Tony's shirt by the collar and the motion made Tony feel very threatened.

"I am serious. You come with me or you and your friends will pay the consequences."

"I really don't know what you're talking about at all, I'm sorry." The boy released Tony angrily and stepped back.

"Fine. But you will regret this, Stark. You'll see. You and your friends will pay the price for not helping me retrieve the rings." The boy said menacingly as he stepped back slowly towards the lab door, and upon placing seven rings on his fingers, flashed himself out once more.

After he was gone, Rhodey came back into the lab (realizing he had forgotten his backpack in the lab) and saw that Tony was standing there looking very confused.

"Tony, what was all that noise?" Rhodey asked. Tony shrugged.

"Some kid came in and threatened me about a million times…" Tony explained, confused as to just who the boy was and what the rings were; and why in the world are they so important?

Rhodey knew instantly what Tony was talking about. He had failed to remember that Gene would be back for Tony to find more Makluan rings, and Tony doesn't remember ever meeting Gene. And man, did Gene have a temper.

"Uhh, this is bad. This is really bad," Rhodey whined. He didn't have a clue as to what they would do about it either. What Gene was going to do could be a vast number of things, which left open the fact that they had no idea or way of knowing what he was going to do for revenge—and he knew that it could even end in death. And they didn't want that.

"Well we can't let him hurt anyone." Tony said.

"Well obviously," Rhodey commented, "But we don't know what he's going to do. He could even be saying that just to scare us into hurting ourselves by accident," he explained. It was true after all, Gene was like that.

"Well what are we going to do?" Tony asked. Rhodey sighed.

"I really don't know." Rhodey said. They were silent for a long while, and Rhodey pondered what to do. He partly wished Tony could get his memory back so he could help him out with making a plan, or have just avoided this altogether. _Dang, Tony, why'd you have to go and get your memory lost?_

"Well I'll be back in a few minutes; I have to get something from the house." Rhodey exited the lab. Soon after his exit, Pepper entered and Tony could barely identify her.

"Tony, how are you doing today?" She asked.

"How am I doing? Why? I'm fine…" Tony asked, confused. Yet, as if everything was fine, Pepper giggled.

"No, I meant the memory loss thing. Any new memories?" Pepper explained. Truth of the matter was that on the inside, having to say that deeply upset her and she wished to herself that Tony had never lost his memory; but then she would still be mad at him, and she would wish none of what had happened lately had ever happened. Tony shook his head.

"Not really…" Suddenly, Pepper tripped over something on the floor and fell—straight into Tony's arms.

When she looked up, she saw where she had landed and blushed. She looked up at Tony, but then looked away. Tony helped her back up.

"Careful there, don't want you falling on that pretty face of yours," Tony said. Then some memories cane flooding back. He remembered standing on a roof, looking back at a girl sitting on a spare rafter, eating a sandwich. She seemed to know everything about his life, and that confused him. He remembered that they'd gotten kidnapped together, and he'd had his arm wrapped around her as he shook some guy's hand. He recalled how enthusiastically she had hugged him. Tony remembered when they were flying above the city, and remembered her face when she was in the air with him. She looked so carefree and happy, like it was one of the best moments of her life. Then again, finding out your best friend was a super-strong armored hero was a pretty exciting day. But something about her mood that day was different, yet he couldn't describe it.

They had all that together, yet he still had the nerve to make her mad at him? Yet—he couldn't remember why he had angered her. Why was it that she was so mad at him?

Tony stepped back, the sudden shock evident by the look on his face and his gaping mouth.

"Wait…Pepper?" By the mention of her name, Pepper smiled widely.

"Tony, you remember!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Well the thing is, I only remembered you. I don't remember anything else that I forgot…"

"Oh, what do I care. You remember me!" Pepper hugged him tightly.

~…~

As Gene sat silently on the Mandarin's throne, twirling his rings, he heard the doorbell ring. The camera system was being repaired, so he couldn't see from where he was who was at the door. So he went upstairs and opened the door to see none other than Chaoxiang waiting at the door. Gene sighed and opened the door.

"What do you want, Xiang?" Gene asked sourly. His father held his smile.

"Let's say I'm going to help you win your rings and get revenge on your friend." Gene crossed his arms.

"And how do you know I'm seeking revenge? Why would I accept your help, or trust you at all?"

"Because, I know everything there is to know about the Makluan Rings—including everything your mother and step-father never knew."

Gene immediately let Chaoxiang inside.

**Short? Oh well, I finally got it done. I think its just fine the way it is. Thoughts?**


	9. When Options Aren't Options Anymore

**Okay, before I go off telling stories, I have to geek about Thor for a minute. I just saw it in theaters and it was **_**AWESOME!**_** Completely epic. I even stayed for the end part that linked it to The Avengers movie….(X Alright, alright, I'll shutups now. **

Tony was more or less getting used to what he was told he didn't remember. It didn't really mean he had his memory back, but that was coming back slowly. But what was really weird to him was why he and Pepper had had so many moments together but they weren't…'together', so to speak. What went on between them each day?

Tony felt an overwhelming sense of lonliness. Both friends seemed to have something else to do, contrary to their usual 'always have to be around the guy who lost his memory' attitude. Maybe they think I can handle a little while on my own, Tony thought.

But he couldn't help but wonder what the deal was with Gene—whoever he was. He had only heard that his name was Gene. Tony felt bad for the kid. He didn't know where he came from or what his deal was, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Tony felt like the teenager was somehow lost, like he had never really had any real guidance in life like Tony had.

It was then that Tony thought, _speak of the devil._ It was none other than Gene, in the flesh. Back for more, Tony thought. What did he keep coming back for, anyhow?

"What are you here for now?" The Mongol boy wasn't even in the armor he had come in the last time Tony had remembered the boy visiting.

"I don't care what you do and don't recall, Stark, but I said you were going to pay and you are." Tony crossed his arms. Somehow, Tony had failed to notice the presence of another person in the room with them until Gene had thrown a body out in front of him like it wasn't living at all; which it was, but just barely. The person was coughing weakly, as if he had just been choked to near death.

When Tony looked down to see who it was Gene had with him, however, he was speechless.

"D-dad?"

~…~

"You must know what Stark's motives and his weaknesses are. That is the key." Chaoxiang explained. Gene didn't like having to rely on the very man who had walked out on his wife and a mere, helpless baby for a keg of beer and a hot chic. But if he knew the perfect plan to get the last few rings, he had no choice but to listen.

"And what would that be?"

"If those closest to him are in harm, there is no way he will say no."

Gene was now impressed with his father. He himself had never even thought of such measures; yet he wouldn't consider them drastic. It was in fact, a very good plan; and he listened to his father's vivid detail intensely.

~…~

"You…how did you get my dad?" Tony asked angrily.

"Why don't you remember anything?" Gene demanded. Tony was getting angrier by each word spoken from Gene's mouth.

"Because you knocked it out of me!" Tony yelled. Then everything went silent.

With that sentence, everything came flooding back into Tony's mind. And remembering everything over a second time really opened his eyes. Everything connected again and he realized everything that had happened. Everything, it seemed, he had taken in the way that had been expected. He never really saw things as they were-it was so obvious the whole time, that Gene was planning to betray him and that his friends were right the whole time. Why didn't he just listen to what he was told? I'm so ignorant and stupid, Tony thought.

"One way or another, Stark, you will help me find the rest of the rings or the old man gets it." Gene said. Tony looked down to his father. Howard was weakened and looked shocked at what was happening. Tony didn't blame him.

"You know its obvious what you need to do, Stark." Gene said, narrowing his eyes at Tony.

Tony remembered what his friends ha said to him before. He had made a mistake by giving in to Gene the first time, and he wouldn't make that mistake again. His friends were right before and chances were they were right this time.

Tony slowly backed up towards the black backpack sitting on the lab table not to far behind him.

"Just let me get my backpack, okay? I promise I'll help you." Tony lied. Gene seemed to accept the excuse, but not gladly. He was still suspicious. Tony grabbed the backpack, but held it in his hand by the straps and took a small step closer to Gene before strapping it on.

Howard, on the ground with hands tied behind his back, looked around. This room, he thought, looks amazing. And it looked like everything was familiar to Tony—had he built all of it himself? And what was that backpack he had on?

Then Howard saw what it was. Tony had pressed some sort of button in the middle and suddenly he was engulfed in a red and gold armor…

Howard was amazed. It seemed like Tony had invented this…this armor thing, all on his own.

But his amazement was overtaken by fear. Tony had charged at the boy—his captor—with anger. This was an entirely new side to his son that he had never expected. Just what had he missed?

Tony had charged at Gene with all the anger that he had acquired over the last few adventures they had had together. All the anger, sadness, deception, the bad memories…Tony just wanted them to go away. He just wanted every bad memory to go away.

Gene had been vulnerable when he was armorless, but he had the rings on him and he dawned them quickly.

It all went so quickly, but it went on for so long: Tony hit Gene with a repulsor, Gene struck back with powers from the rings. To Gene, Iron Man wasn't much competition. But to Tony, Gene was just some confused, hopeless boy who would never see the truth. He would send his own life down the flusher by making the mistakes that he had made, or would make in the future.

"I didn't want to have to do this, Stark, but you leave me no choice," Gene said while struggling to get Tony off of him. "if you don't give in to me now I'll just have to kill your stupid girlfriend."

That was where Tony drew the line. Gene could threaten his life, he could threaten revenge, taking his father was getting too dang close to the line, but threatening death upon an innocent girl that Tony could not stand to live without was crossing way over the line.

Tony then broke out the big guns. He built up the most power in the uni-beam and blasted Gene with it. Gene was sent flying back. Things got really quiet then.

Tony walked slowly over to Gene, who lay silently against the wall.

"You were our friend, you helped me get all five rings, you pretended to be a good friend—you could have kept it that way, Gene, but this stupid quest for power of yours is driving you crazy. Can't you just forget about it? No—its too late for that. It was too late for that a long time ago," Gene looked up at Tony wearily.

"You threw your life away for some stupid jewelry. Not very smart to me." Tony paused.

"I'm just going to bring you to where you were bringing yourself with this quest of yours anyways." Tony turned from Gene and went back to reconcile with his father; but he was stopped.

"You think you've defeated me, Stark, but you're far from it," Gene spoke up. Tony stopped walking, but didn't turn back to him.

"Just because it looks like its over doesn't mean all the bad stuff will go away. The memories will still be there. It all still happened. Nothing is the same anymore. You made a mistake. What did you expect?"

"You were always bad with that stuff, Stark. You always think you know what you're doing but you don't. You're just some lost little kid."

Tony absorbed Gene's words.

"I know it's over now," Tony said, "because you're not fighting back."

**Okay, a few reasons I'm ending the chapter here. First of all, I have to go to bed. Second of all, good place to stop. Third of all, well, I just can. Whatcha think? Ohhmegod, this story will be over in a few chapters then I'll have less to update. More time for other stories! Review?**


	10. Borderline Insanity

_I know it's over now, because you're not fighting back. _The words rang in Gene's head like a church bell. With each _dong _that bounced off his skull, he felt more angered. Why did I stop? He thought. Gene struggled to get back up, but when he did he ignored he pain shooting through his body and charged at Tony again.

Tony was taken back by the sudden attack. For some reason, Gene had removed his rings—either that or they had fallen off during the fight—but Gene was attempting to choke him while Tony wore a thick suit of armor on him. Tony thrust Gene off of him and turned to face him.

"Did you really think that would do anything?" Tony asked.

"What does it matter if it did anything? The point was that you're distracted. Now I will take you down." Gene explained bitterly as he dawned his nine rings.

"Where did you get the eighth and ninth ring?" Tony asked.

"I had a little assistance from someone I knew a long time ago. But that's none of your concern. The only thing you should be worried about is staying alive." Gene used the power of his rings and blasted a large amount of fire at Tony, but Tony formed a shield using his repulsors that blocked the action. Tony then shot his repulsors at Gene; Gene deflected the move and froze Tony in a blue mush. Tony struggled to move, but it was useless; he was stuck. Tony kept attempting to move his hand to fire a repulsor at Gene, but his efforts were futile.

Something inside of Gene led him to release Tony, who dropped to the ground. As Tony regained his energy, crouched over on the ground, he looked up to Gene and opened his face mask.

"What happened to the friend I used to have in you?" Tony asked weakly. Something snapped inside Gene at that moment. He wasn't sure if it was being driven insane by what Tony had said combined with the regrets of ruining a perfect friendship with a lovely girl such as Pepper and a good friend such as Tony, or the fact that he was being driven insane by power, but something did snap.

"You were our friend, then you betrayed us. You hurt Rhodey…you hurt all of us. These rings that you're after have driven you to the edge and you're about to fall off." Just saying it to Gene made Tony think of how it had upset Pepper, and that infuriated him. Tony rose to his feet, regaining his strength through his sudden anger.

Then, Gene charged at Tony, combining all of the energy and power from all nine rings and aiming it all at Tony. Tony exerted all the energy in his armor and his body to try and keep his shields up to block Gene's moves, but it was still showing to be a great struggle.

"You are as persistent as your father; I'll give you that, Stark!" Gene yelled over the chaos. Tony concentrated more on fighting back rather than spitting out a dramatic response. He felt like he had nothing more to say to Gene.

The battle raged on when Tony decided he'd had enough of blocking Gene's moves. Tony shot a repulsor at Gene, but compared to Gene's power it wasn't doing much. Things were heating up quickly as they fought more.

Soon enough, Tony couldn't withstand the combined power of eight rings. He fell back to the ground, weakened once more. Gene stood over him.

"You, Stark, are going to come with me to retrieve the last ring whether you want to or not." Gene said, breathing heavily and angrily. Tony saw the malevolence in his eyes and knew he was being completely serious.

~…~

Gene flashed he and Iron Man to the Tong building first to make a stop for someone he knew he would need to successfully retrieve an activated ring.

"Do not move, Stark," Gene searched around for his father.

"Chaoxiang, we have work to do," Gene yelled into the empty room. His father came out of another room with a devious smile.

"Indeed, we do."

The three of them left for the temple together.

~…~

Tony opened his eyes when he felt solid ground on his feet once more to see a large, old temple sitting in the worst possible place it could be:

The very bottom of the middle of the ocean.

**Well, okay, short chapter. But don't worry cuz the next chapter is gonna be pretty darn epic…review?**


	11. Wrapping Things Up

"So, what is it this time, if we don't pass this test we get sucked into the ocean and drown before we can reach the surface?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Gene said nonchalantly as he walked through the temple to examine his surroundings. Tony swallowed in nervousness. There were no mistakes this time.

"So, who's that?" Tony pointed to Chaoxiang.

"My father." Gene said, not bothering to turn away from the statues surrounding the temple.

"Good to know…" Tony muttered.

By the looks of the temple, the theme here was water. Tony knew about the immense power of water, and that made him nervous. Especially with the level of anger boiling inside Gene. _This should be…interesting…_

Except this time was different. The test didn't begin with someone activating it. The test had begun when they entered the temple, and Tony could tell by the fact that the water was pushing at the walls and the walls weren't going to stay up for very long.

"How do we pass the test this time?" Tony asked, trying to ignore the water seeping through small cracks in the walls.

"We have to find the ring before we drown," Gene explained calmly.

"Ahh. Well now that it's out in the open, maybe we should, I don't know…start looking for the ring?" Tony suggested, trying not to sound angry.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Gene said calmly.

"Well it doesn't look like you're trying very hard!" Tony complained.

"It never does look like I'm trying, does it?" Gene taunted, with a smile teetering on his lips. He enjoyed teasing the young genius; but Tony, however, wasn't appreciating it considering the circumstances.

Tony just pushed the thoughts aside and continued searching for the ring.

~…~

Chao, however, hadn't payed attention to the two teens' squabbling. He hadn't the time to waste listening to adolescent boys arguing over useless things such as what they were now.

Besides, he had the location of the ring and he needn't delay picking it up and leaving.

Yet, the same thought echoed through his head. _I will allow you to assist me in finding the last ring, but don't believe this means you've gained my trust, old man._ The boy had only been fooling himself, Chao thought. He trusts me whether he likes it or not…so why am I betraying it?

He ignored the thought and found a door. He recalled a 'riddle' he had been told a while back and smiled. He pressed his hand onto the inscription aside the door and moments later, the door opened. Inside the room was poorly lit and damp from the water seeping in quickly. Chao pushed through the quickly-rising water and followed the light emanating from the ring.

Once he reached the stand, he picked up the ring, placed it on his finger and transported himself out.

~…~

"Hey, Tony, I think I forgot my—" Pepper began to explain, walking back into the armory. She was stopped by the sight of a man sitting on the floor of the armory, looking frail and weak. Pepper covered her mouth to prevent the sound of gasping.

"Oh my gosh," Pepper whispered to herself. She didn't linger for long. Pepper ran to Howard's side and helped him to his feet.

"Mr. Stark, are you okay?" Pepper asked.

"I-I think so…" Howard answered weakly, "who are you?" He knew that she must be a friend of Tony's, but considering she knew about a whole large armory full of Iron Man armors, Howard was guessing that Tony didn't freely give away his secrets to just any strangers.

"I'm Tony's friend," Pepper explained, trying not to sigh in disappointment. Howard caught her disappointment and smiled. "are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital or something?" Pepper continued.

"N-no, I should be fine…maybe just a glass of water or something," Howard said. After months of small portions only two times a day, he just wanted a good long drink of water and then to sit down and catch up on things.

"Umm, sure, let me just get that…" Pepper went to find Rhodey.

~…~

The search for the tenth ring continued, and the water level was rising quickly. It was practically up to his knees by now, and his armor wasn't going to withstand the water for very long. Besides, the more water there was the smaller the space was—in simpler words, the walls were moving in which didn't help the water level to decrease.

"Where is the stupid thing?" Tony exclaimed out of anger.

"Watch your mouth, Stark!" Gene exclaimed.

"Oh, is that supposed to be a threat? Am I supposed to be scared or something?" Tony taunted. He honestly didn't care for Gene's threats anymore.

"I'm warning you, Stark!" Gene clenched his hands into tight fists as Tony spoke. His tolerance for such things had lowered since he reunited with his father, and by now if Tony kept saying the things he did he'd really be asking for a fight.

"Ooh, I'm so scared!" Tony pretended to tremble. Gene was even angrier; and what he didn't realize was that with his anger, his rings glowed with power. Gene wouldn't take anymore of Tony's taunting, so he used the power of all nine rings on his attack.

The attack took Tony off guard and sent him onto the floor and into the water. He knew his armor wouldn't withstand much more of this abuse; its origins from water or otherwise.

"I warned you Stark! Don't irritate me or you'll pay the price!" Gene yelled.

"You know, that's your problem Gene! You think you deserve everything in the world when really the reputation you've set for yourself says the opposite. You treat yourself like a princess when you're clearly not!" Tony said. Gene scowled and blasted Tony more.

"I warned you not to get in my way, Stark, and now you are! So shut your mouth and get out of the way of my destiny!" Gene yelled even louder this time. As Gene yelled, he became stronger and harder for Tony to fight. Tony had to concentrate on fighting Gene rather than retorting cleverly to his yelling.

Soon enough, Gene was too concentrated on finding the rings to continue beating up Iron Man.

"WHERE IS THAT RING?" Gene yelled, very angry.

Then he caught sight of a dark room in the back; Gene went to it. It was a ring chamber, just like the ones that had been in all the other temples. Except this one was ringless; and gene had noticed that Chao was gone. Gene knew what had gone on.

Chaoxiang had left with the ring.

Gene felt infuriated. From the other room, Tony heard a loud yell that he knew had come from Gene. Tony rushed over to Gene to see that a burst of energy had shot up from Gene and once it had disappeared, a pile of black armor and dimmed rings was left.

Gene was gone. _Gone_ gone.

The power of the nine rings that he had had ended up killing him; and honestly, Tony didn't feel satisfied.

Then Tony was faced with the issue of leaving. He knew that the only way to leave was through the rings, and he didn't like it.

Tony knew there was no way he'd be able to surface in his armor alone. He knew he had no choice at all. And honestly, with all the trouble the rings had caused him, Tony just wanted to leave the rings to be destroyed by all the water pressure. But he had to leave.

So Tony put on one of the rings.

"How does this thing work anyways?" Tony wondered aloud. Soon enough he figured it out and he was at the harbor when he opened his eyes again.

His next reaction was to throw the ring back into the water and flew back to the armory.

~…~

"So…he's just gone?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah. Just like that," Tony paused, "but I actually feel kinda bad. All he really wanted was the rings. He just wanted to be powerful like he was promised, but it ended up with losing his life in the end." Tony explained.

"I guess…" Pepper said. She couldn't really see how Tony could feel bad, but he would be Tony.

Tony had explained the situation to Rhodey earlier, when he had gotten back. Pepper had been busy at her house and couldn't make it until now, when Rhodey was doing his homework.

Tony looked into Pepper's eyes and felt a warm, tingly feeling take over him. It felt weird, but he'd been feeling it whenever he saw her lately and he was getting used to it.

Tony cleared his throat before speaking again, "so, uhh, anyways, there's this girl that I know that has an electric smile and the brightest, prettiest eyes that I kinda like a lot…" Tony said with a smile. Pepper felt crushed inside at first, but then he saw his sly smile and began to play along.

"Oh really? What's she like?"

"Oh, she's always worrying about me when I'm doing dangerous stuff. But she always brightens up my day and I always look forward to her perky outlook every day." Tony explained with a smile. Pepper stood, kissed him, patted his shoulder and hung over the back of his chair and whispered into his ear,

"By the way, I love you too."

**Errrggg! Why do I keep getting ideas! Now I don't know whether to cut this off here and make a sequel or continue from here. But I'm leaning more towards sequel as soon as I tie up all the loose ends in my other stories….review?**


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